Older people are suffering the ill effects of the cutbacks and they stand in solidarity with their children & grandchildren who are also suffering.

This is why the Irish Senior Citizens Parliament will proudly march alongside trade unions and other community groups before Budget 2013 on Saturday next to say “No to Austerity”. We are asking all our members around the country to walk alongside us with dignity & respect to show the Coalition government that we have had enough of the recession, enough of the cuts to income and enough of the threats to the travel pass. The last Budget saw a vicious cut to the means tested fuel allowance thus increasing fuel poverty.

So walk alongside us … but wrap up warm with good shoes and scarves and gloves. This time however we want you to wear different shades of grey to symbolise the many hits we’ve taken. But we are not without hope – wear a sprig of green as well to show that we still have hope. And what about some “Greys in Shades” – wear some sunglasses as well.

Lastly what about some placards? We’ll have some but we encourage you to make your own & bring them with you. Your own words are always best but here are some possible slogans you could have on your placards:

“No To Austerity!”

The Irish Senior Citizens Parliament (ISCP) will be taking part in the anti-austerity march & rally being organised by the Dublin Council of Trade Unions on Saturday 24 November 2012.

“We are calling on all older people from around the country and especially those in the Greater Dublin area to join us”, said Máiréad Hayes, CEO of the ISCP. “We want our members and friends and families to march in protest at the cuts and in support of investment and job creation.”

The Parliament is asking their members to dress in shades of grey with a sprig of green. “The grey of austerity must be offset with the green shoots of hope”, continued Ms. Hayes. “There are a wide variety of older people in Irish society and this will be reflected in the shades of grey we will wear on the march. Older people are working, retired and unemployed. They are able bodied and disabled. They are carers and they are being cared for. They are living alone or in families or in homes.”

“However we stand together in 2012, the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations, with all those suffering under the austerity budgets and those struggling to survive on the brink of poverty”, concluded Ms. Hayes. “Older people and their families are all too familiar with the effects of the cutbacks on the most vulnerable in Irish society.”

The Irish Senior Citizens Parliament supported the National Demonstration organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions on Saturday last. ISCP people came from as near as Finglas and as far away as Donegal on a cold, snowy Saturday to show their solidarity and to make the voice of older people heard. We joined something between 50,000 and 100,000 marchers from Dublin’s Civic Offices to the GPO.

We would like to thank everybody who joined the ISCP on the demonstration. In particular our friends from Older & Bolder were prominent with their pink umbrellas.

Evie Franks made a video about the Demonstration & included short interviews with the Parliament’s CEO, Máiréad Hayes, and Paul Walsh from the Parliament’s Limerick Division about why this Demonstration was so important.

Addressing the crowd, master of ceremonies Fintan O’Toole said thatv “We are here to say that we are who we are – citizens of a proud and free Republican democracy”. Other speakers at the event included Ictu President Jack O’Connor, Ictu General Secretary David Begg, and Siobhán O’Donoghue of the Community Platform. Marie Doyle of the Retired Workers Committee spoke on behalf of pensioners. She said elderly people had made a huge contribution to the State during their working lives and were now being treated like parasites. “We resent being told that we are a burden for the State”.

Performers Christy Moore, Frances Black and Jinx Lennon also entertained the crowd with relevant and hard hitting songs while actress, Ruth McCabe read, with emotion, from the 1916 Proclamation and the 1919 Democratic Programme the seminal founding documents of the State.

What is the ISCP?

The Irish Senior Citizens' Parliament is a representative organisation of Older People in Ireland.
The Parliament is a non-partisan political organisation working to promote the views of older people in policy development and decision-making.
The Parliament is run by older volunteers who are elected annually at the Annual Parliament Meeting by delegates from affiliated organisations. The ISCP currently has 400 affiliated organisations whose memberships combine to a total of 100,000 individuals.
This membership means the ISCP has a genuine mandate to be the Voice of Older People in Ireland.

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ISCP Objectives:

To be a strong voice representing older people and their needs at international, national and local level.
To promote inter-generational solidarity.
To work through the existing affiliated organisations to ensure better co-ordination of policies and activities whilst ensuring that the affiliated groups retain their own autonomy.
To work for improvement in the quality of life of Older People.
To develop solidarity with organisations working to improve the quality of life of Older People.
To represent Older People’s issues to Government.